Aper per silvam currit.

Because aper is in the nominative singular, which is the case Latin normally uses for the subject.

Here, aper means boar and is the thing doing the action of running. So aper is the subject, and currit agrees with it as he/she/it runs.

Because the preposition per takes the accusative case.

So:

• silva = nominative/ablative singular
• silvam = accusative singular

Since the sentence says per silvam = through the forest, Latin uses the accusative form silvam after per.

No. Even though silvam is accusative, it is not the direct object here.

It is the object of the preposition per. So in per silvam, the whole phrase means through the forest, and silvam belongs with per, not directly with currit.

This is important because in Latin, accusative does not always mean direct object.

Currit comes from currere, meaning to run.

The ending -it tells you that it is:

• third person
• singular
• present tense
• active
• indicative

So currit means he runs, she runs, or it runs. In this sentence, since the subject is aper (boar), the natural translation is the boar runs.

Because Latin does not have articles like English the and a/an.

So aper can mean:

• a boar
• the boar

And silvam can mean:

• a forest
• the forest

Which one sounds best depends on the context and on the translation you have been given.

Latin word order is much freer than English word order because Latin uses case endings to show grammatical relationships.

So Aper per silvam currit is a very normal Latin order, especially because Latin often places the verb near the end.

But other orders are also possible, for example:

• Per silvam aper currit
• Aper currit per silvam

These can all mean the same basic thing, though they may sound slightly different in emphasis.

Yes. Aper is a masculine noun and means boar.

Its dictionary form is usually given as:

• aper, apri = boar

It belongs to the second declension, even though its nominative singular does not end in -us. That sometimes surprises learners.

Here per means through.

It often expresses movement through a place, so per silvam means through the forest.

More generally, per can have related meanings such as through, along, or sometimes by means of, but in this sentence the sense is clearly physical movement through a place.

In a classical pronunciation, approximately:

AH-per per SIL-wam KOOR-rit

A few helpful notes:

• a in aper is like a in father
• v in classical Latin sounds like English w
• u in currit is like oo in food
• both r sounds are rolled or tapped if possible

So silvam is roughly SIL-wam, and currit is roughly KOOR-rit.

They are:

• aper, apri = boar
• per = through
• silva, silvae = forest
• curro, currere, cucurri, cursum = run

Learners often need these dictionary forms because Latin words change shape in a sentence. For example:

• silva becomes silvam
• curro becomes currit

So memorizing dictionary forms helps you recognize the forms you actually see in sentences.